Nashville will be fourth site for New York company's urban winery concept

Dec. 27, 2013

City Winery already has locations in New York and Chicago. / Submitted

Written by

The Tennessean

The owners of an urban winery concept out of New York has paid about $2.7 million for an old warehouse in the area south of Broadway with plans to transform it into a music venue, restaurant, winery and private event space.

City Winery, whose CEO is entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Dorf, plans to spend an additional $2.5 million to renovate the 30,000-square-foot warehouse at 609 Lafayette St. Work is expected to start early next month, and the multipurpose venue is scheduled to open by September.

City Winery Nashville will be the fourth location for the concept. The company already has locations in New York and Chicago and is scheduled to open a third in the spring in a converted opera house in Napa Valley, Calif.

“They chose Nashville over a lot of other potential cities because of the unique landscape (it) provides for the entertainment aspect of the concept and also the restaurant and wine concept,” said Jon Petty, a broker at Southeast Venture, which represented City Winery in the purchase.

The music venue will have a seating capacity of about 350, while the restaurant is expected to accommodate 150 patrons. The location is two blocks from Music City Center and a block from Jack White’s Third Man Records.

Development spur

Petty sees City Winery Nashville as having the potential to spur more entertainment- and hospitality-themed concepts in that area of SoBro. Tennessee Brew Works, for instance, recently opened its taproom at another former warehouse it calls home at 809 Ewing Avenue, just blocks from Yazoo and Jackalope brewing companies.

Dorf called Nashville a hotbed of great musicians, new restaurants and hotels. “The facility will make an exciting addition to the burgeoning culinary scene in Nashville and complement the established and growing music community.” he said.

MTLC Building Group will be the general contractor for City Winery Nashville. Buist Richardson of Cornerstone Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller of what originally was part of the Sears properties in the transaction.

Getahn Ward covers growth and development. Contact him at 615-726-5968 or gward@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @Getahn.